What makes Brand "X" ATF better than Brand "Y"?

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We all have brands that are our personal favorites. I use Amsoil for the engine and Royal Purple for the automatic transmission. The funny thing is that I really have no proof that Royal Purple is superior to any other brand of ATF. Read on before you start to think that this is a post to slam Royal Purple.

There are hundreds of UOA's for engine oil in the BITOG database that cover virtually every type/style of engine out there. When folks choose Brand "X" oil they can usually say that their decision is based on multiple UOA's and the collective experience of many here at BITOG. In short, they are on fairly solid ground when they say that Brand "X" typically performs better than Brand "Y" for their chosen OCI and application.

Other than shift quality, a few scattered UOA's, and the color of drained fluid, there is very little data that may be used when it comes to selecting ATF. We have virtually no idea what base oils are being used, nor do we know the extent of testing in real world applications. The specs are not as clear as the those used for engine oil. Come to think about it, you don't usually see many commercials on the TV for ATF either.

Questions:
1) What prompted you to select Brand "X" ATF over Brand "Y"?

2) What was taken into consideration when you made your selection?
 
For most people it's advertising or uninformed friends and mechanics. Also Mobil 1's factory fill program is pretty convincing. I really doubt that many do research, look at UOA's, contact triboligists or become BITOG members and figure out who to listen to and who to ignore (or is it whom?). I have had people tell me they pour Brand X engine oil into there engine and get much better mileage and better performance and a smoother engine after running the stuff for a couple of days. It's a fact that when one goes searching for something one often finds it.
 
Originally Posted By: Louie's gone fishing
For most people it's advertising or uninformed friends and mechanics. Also Mobil 1's factory fill program is pretty convincing. I really doubt that many do research, look at UOA's, contact triboligists or become BITOG members and figure out who to listen to and who to ignore (or is it whom?). I have had people tell me they pour Brand X engine oil into there engine and get much better mileage and better performance and a smoother engine after running the stuff for a couple of days. It's a fact that when one goes searching for something one often finds it.


I agree with what you have said, but was more curious about how the "informed" folks here at BITOG select ATF. For me, the Royal Purple seems to shift better and has all but stopped the whining noise that my 2007 Civic LX had made since it was new. Other than that, I cannot say that it is better and back it up with data or personal experiences.
 
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I think s lot is subjective. No one here is doing a double blind test of an ATF. I inherited a Toyota Camry from my Dad with about 125K on it, had the ATF flushed with Amsoil ATF I brought in, went about 40K miles, did a UOA, guess what it was not Amsoil (cannot explain), did a pan drop and filter change, fill with Amsoil, another drain and refill with Amsoil and then a full flush with Amsoil. The shifting has always been the same so far as I can notice. But I do not drive agressively. Maybe Toyota makes a great tranny that can deal with most ATFs.

When I was 18 I blew the manual tranny of my 65 Mustang because of too many burn outs, had to tow it several hundred miles. Then replace the tranny. That taught me a major lesson. Drive like there is an egg between your foot and gas pedal.
 
Resitance to shearing and oxidation. Sure wear reduction is a plus but in ATF's the first two things I listed are the most important to the long term life of the transmission if it is an automatic. Now the best way to counter shearing and oxidation is to use a fluid that does both like and ester based G-IV fluid then add what ever add package you need to meet wear spec.!
 
Quote:
1) What prompted you to select Brand "X" ATF over Brand "Y"?


For beaters? Cost. For keepers, desire to keep'er longer (the brands are different)

Quote:
2) What was taken into consideration when you made your selection?


For the beater(s) ..the speculation on whether Wally's or AA had the best price. For the keeper(s) it was a no brainer for me
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Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
1) What prompted you to select Brand "X" ATF over Brand "Y"?


For beaters? Cost. For keepers, desire to keep'er longer (the brands are different)

Quote:
2) What was taken into consideration when you made your selection?


For the beater(s) ..the speculation on whether Wally's or AA had the best price. For the keeper(s) it was a no brainer for me
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What do you base this on? The specs seem cryptic and there is very little data out there to suggest that one brand of ATF performs better than another. There are few UOA's and the marketing supplied advertising data is biased at best. We really don't even know which base oils, friction modifiers and additives are used. Picking ATF seems to boil down to brand loyalty and very little more.
 
Quote:
What do you base this on?


You said it yourself ..at least in terms of conventional fluids

Quote:
there is very little data out there to suggest that one brand of ATF performs better than another


I don't care, in a beater, whether it's Valvoline or PZ, QS, Exxon, whomever.

On my "keeper's", I would surely go with a top tier synthetic ..which in MY CASE IS:

Quote:
down to brand loyalty


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Winter weather here is very noticeable. A blend or full synth will always shift better/quicker then a mineral ATF. Less lag!
I've worked a couple of vehicles. The mineral ATF's would assist in the ATF smoke show production when unit is grossly overheated. The full synthetic did not.
Failure in the AT's using OE recommend mineral ATFs was considerable earlier then when using a full synthetic ATF.
Shift quality seems to also improve when using a full synthetic ATF. Also, shift quality doesn't deteriorate as quickly when compared to the mineral ATFs.

Most automakers are finally waking up and moving ATF up the group oil ladder. Automakers simply playing catch up to the boutique crowd.

For my vehicles, all which are always keepers, I will always stick with a full synthetic or equivalent ATF that mentions the required spec.
I don't have any brand preferences.

Amsoil, Redline, Neo, Royalpurple, Synlube, Amalie, Mobil1, Motul....... all make excellent products.

If a brand seems to shift better, make less noise, not smoke as much, perform better when cold....... why bother with OE?
 
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